How to Keep a Cat out of Your Room?

5 Ways on How To Keep A Cat Out Of your Room

Your kitty did it again! Your cat snuck into your office and knocked over a file of papers. It will take days to reorganize it!

This isn’t the first time your kitty has gone into a room you don’t want them in. You try to keep them out of the room, but they aren’t taking the hint. You don’t know where else to turn to.

Cats are animals that naturally do what they want.

So how to keep a cat out of your room without keeping all the doors closed? Keep your kitty out of a room, with these 5 solutions.

Train your cat to love a cat bed.

One of the first purchases you make as a cat owner is to buy a cat bed. You hope that your cat will use it at night, instead of sleeping on top of your head. But do they even use it?

It doesn’t matter the shape, size, or material of the bed, a cat won’t use it unless trained to. Most of the time a cat would be content just sleeping on the floor! However, there is a way to successfully introduce your cat to a cat bed, making it their permanent spot to sleep.

The first thing to do is to figure out a location to place the bed. Place the bed where it is insight but not in the middle of the room. Next, cover the bed with a towel or bed sheet, anything that smells like you.

The familiar scent attracts your cat to the bed and it will stay there instead of wandering into restricted areas of your home. Praise the cat when they begin going to the bed all on their own. Once they are familiar with the bed, you can place it in any room you wish, and they will follow.

Should I discipline my cat for going into a certain room?

Negative reinforcement is the easiest way to stress out a cat and not a good method on how to keep a cat out of your room. Scolding your cat whenever they try and enter a room will make them hate you. This isn't a good way on how to keep your cat out of your room. Chances are this will lead to other forms of unwanted cat behavior, such as urine spraying, pooping on the rug, and just going crazy.

If you are on a budget, a quick and cheap solution is to place citrus fruit peels at doorway entrances. The problem is, you have to really love oranges! The fruit dries out quickly and is only good for about a day.

If the fruit idea isn’t for you, invest in an electronic cat repellent. The device is motion activated and releases a burst of air each time it detects something. Another form of repellent emits a noise that irritates a cat but is not audible to a human.

Use positive reinforcement to train your cat to come when it’s called.

Does whiskers even acknowledge you when you call their name? Training your cat to come when called can be a great way on how to keep a cat out of your room that they shouldn’t be in. Cats are independent creatures by nature, so how do you get them to come to you when you ask?

How Cast has a video that offers a few tips for cat owners. The video lays out three simple steps that will get your cat to come when called. Every cat loves treats, and that’s where this process begins.

First, crinkle a bag of your cat’s favorite treats. Next call their name, and then give them a treat. After a while, a cat will recognize the positive reinforcement and you will be able to stop using food to call them.

Karen Pryor of clickertraining.com stresses the importance of training a cat with positive reinforcement. Pryor writes, “Problem behaviors can be resolved successfully and, depending on the challenge, quickly through a combination of addressing the behavior triggers, environmental management, clicker training, and other positive reinforcement techniques.” Pryor goes on to make a good argument about how positive reinforcement is good for managing a cat’s mood.

When Pryor talks about “clicker training” she is referring to a world renowned training technique. Clicker training uses an event marker to train the cat in a positive and humane way. It makes a cat more relax and can even help a cat handle social situations better.

Designate a room in your house for your cat to call home.

You like having your space, so who is to say that a cat doesn’t want their own space too? Now it isn’t like you need to build a cattery in your own home. Make a room a space for you cat that they will find solitude in.

Johnson-Bennett is the best-selling author of six books on cats. She suggests that even though cats seem like they cling to you wherever you go, they need their own space too. If your cat doesn’t have their own space in your home, they can start acting up like teenagers and develop behavior issues.

If a cat isn’t attracted to any one room in your house, setting up a cat perch or cat tree in a room can lure them in. Johnson-Bennett writes that cats love vertical territory. “Cat trees, wall shelves, window perches, or even beds placed on various pieces of furniture can provide cats with enough distance between each other to create personal space.”

Now that your cat has its own room, make the other rooms undesirable for them to go into. If the room has carpet, placing some double-sided tape in the doorway will stop your feline friend in their tracks. Cats don’t like the feel of the tape and it can be enough to deter them from entering into a room.

If all else fails, block the entrance into the room.

Making a room less desirable could be just the ticket on how to keep a cat out of your room.

suggests making it a habit of quickly coming in and out rooms. Distracting a cat with toys and treats will make them prefer being on the other end of the door. The art of distraction could be just the means on how to keep a cat out of your room.

Not all rooms have doors to block your cat from entering and exiting whenever they wish to. There are a wide variety of cat barriers on the market ranging from baby gates to electronic fences. A DIY option is to block the doorway with a screen.

If your kitty is stubborn and still goes into a restricted area of your house, you may be better off shutting the door to the room. Of course, this isn’t the most desirable solution. However, it could be the only solution you have left.

Always, always reward your cat for good behavior! It will surprise you at how effective these ideas can be. Before defaulting to shutting the door, try these other 5 ways of keeping a cat out of a room.

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